Primordial Dread awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, landing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

A chilling mystic suspense film from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an archaic terror when unrelated individuals become puppets in a diabolical ordeal. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing saga of resilience and primeval wickedness that will transform fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Helmed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and gothic suspense flick follows five individuals who come to locked in a unreachable wooden structure under the hostile control of Kyra, a female lead overtaken by a two-thousand-year-old biblical demon. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a screen-based display that weaves together bone-deep fear with mystical narratives, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a mainstay tradition in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the monsters no longer develop beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This portrays the shadowy aspect of every character. The result is a bone-chilling identity crisis where the conflict becomes a perpetual confrontation between right and wrong.


In a isolated forest, five individuals find themselves isolated under the ghastly aura and spiritual invasion of a secretive entity. As the companions becomes incapacitated to withstand her rule, marooned and chased by creatures unnamable, they are compelled to stand before their deepest fears while the doomsday meter coldly ticks toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust amplifies and connections fracture, demanding each soul to doubt their personhood and the foundation of conscious will itself. The stakes surge with every short lapse, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries mystical fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to dive into basic terror, an curse rooted in antiquity, manifesting in fragile psyche, and highlighting a power that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was about accessing something beyond human emotion. She is innocent until the curse activates, and that metamorphosis is emotionally raw because it is so intimate.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing horror lovers from coast to coast can be part of this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Tune in for this cinematic path of possession. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to uncover these haunting secrets about mankind.


For teasers, behind-the-scenes content, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate blends biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, plus Franchise Rumbles

Across grit-forward survival fare infused with ancient scripture as well as canon extensions plus focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the genre’s most multifaceted combined with deliberate year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. major banners lay down anchors with familiar IP, as premium streamers prime the fall with emerging auteurs and legend-coded dread. On another front, the independent cohort is buoyed by the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Slated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No IP hangover. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 fear calendar year ahead: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, together with A packed Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek The incoming scare year stacks in short order with a January pile-up, from there runs through summer corridors, and pushing into the late-year period, blending brand heft, inventive spins, and smart release strategy. Major distributors and platforms are leaning into mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and buzz-forward plans that elevate genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has turned into the consistent swing in studio calendars, a space that can break out when it resonates and still safeguard the exposure when it misses. After 2023 demonstrated to top brass that mid-range scare machines can galvanize pop culture, 2024 kept energy high with auteur-driven buzzy films and word-of-mouth wins. The trend fed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is an opening for diverse approaches, from continued chapters to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The end result for 2026 is a slate that reads highly synchronized across studios, with defined corridors, a pairing of established brands and fresh ideas, and a recommitted priority on release windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the grid. The genre can launch on a wide range of weekends, yield a grabby hook for trailers and TikTok spots, and outstrip with viewers that line up on previews Thursday and return through the second weekend if the title fires. Exiting a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 pattern shows belief in that logic. The slate launches with a busy January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall run that extends to All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The map also shows the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across brand ecosystems and established properties. Distribution groups are not just making another chapter. They are looking to package lineage with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that announces a new tone or a casting choice that links a fresh chapter to a early run. At the simultaneously, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are celebrating real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That blend produces the 2026 slate a smart balance of assurance and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate bets that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward character-centered film. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a nostalgia-forward campaign without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in recognizable motifs, early character teases, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will build mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format inviting quick turns to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is straightforward, melancholic, and commercial: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that becomes a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that threads longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are set up as filmmaker events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, makeup-driven execution can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror hit that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around lore, and creature work, elements that can increase premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in historical precision and archaic language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that fortifies both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global originals and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival acquisitions, confirming horror entries toward the drop and eventizing launches with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a paired of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for retention when the genre conversation spikes.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is straightforward: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, elevated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to expand. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is recognizable enough to build pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Comps from the last three years announce the method. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not block a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was strong. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through personae and themes and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind this slate forecast a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-referential reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 my company while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power shifts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to menace, shaped by Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that pipes the unease through a little one’s unreliable perspective. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family caught in lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and elemental menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that slowed or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, select scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, offering breathing room for genre entries that can control a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, soundcraft, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.